SpaceX: 7 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn’t Know

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SpaceX is the revolutionary company responsible for America’s greatest astronomical feats, and its time they got some recognition! Although most of us aren’t exactly familiar with this private institution, they have done far more for the advance of this country than we realize. To fill you in on all of the mind-blowing facts that you didn’t know about SpaceX, we have finally come to give you the scoop!

Number Seven: Headlines for a Private Company

The SpaceX company has received a lot of praise for its works in the advancement of space travel. In fact, they were the first of any privately owned company ever to have a spacecraft launched from the International Space Station.

Number Six: The Falcon 9

Among their various pieces of machinery is the Falcon 9. The name was given to the ship for two reasons: to indicate that the ship has nine rocket engines and to pay homage to the legendary Millennium Falcon in Star Wars.

Number Five: Another Movie Dedication

Along with their admiration of the Star Wars trilogies, the company is also known to have a love for the humor of Monty Python. Because work can’t be boring all the time, they decided to launch a wheel of cheese on their capsule spacecraft, Dragon, as a reference to Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Number Four: Close to Failure

As the company pursued their first ventures into space, they came extremely close to never coming back from the experience. Figuratively, that is. The Falcon 1 had some technical difficulties and underwent three failed launches before reaching orbit. They got the practice down just in time on the fourth launch, just as they were about to go broke.

Number Three: SpaceX Founded by Greatness

The SpaceX company, otherwise known as Space Exploration Technologies, was constructed in 2002 by Tesla engineer Elon Musk in collaboration with Paypal. Remarkably, Musk, the mastermind behind this global launch technology, is an informally taught rocket scientist. He learned the ins and outs of the industry all by himself.

Number Two: Future Plans

The company is currently privately owned; however, Musk has revealed that he has plans to later publicize the company. However, he is determined to wait until a time when the MCT, or the Mars Colonial Transporter, is making regular transportation trips to and from Mars.

Number One: The Main Goal

In the grand scheme, Musk has revealed that his main (feasible) goal for the company is to lower the price of transportation to Mars to the lowest fare possible. He hopes to be able to ferry passengers on the MCT for as low as $500,000 per person. We hope you enjoyed discovering the seven mind-blowing facts about SpaceX!